202 Coast Survey Report for 1853. 
government officers employed from time to time in exploring our 
western territory, and those from foreign shores, important to our 
commerce though too little known. — Investigations into the bot- 
any, uatural history, geology, meteorology, topography and agri- 
cultural capacities of the various sections explored, have formed 
integral and essential parts of these explorations, aud of course 
their results have been duly incorporated into the several reports. 
From Lewis and Clark, Long and Nicollet, down to the present 
time, these expedition reports have been growing in uumber, 
interest and value. ‘he explorations of Wilkes, Fremont, Abvel, 
Pope, Peck, Cook, Whiting, Miehler, Simpson, Cross, Sitgreaves, 
Stansbury and Gunnison, Marcy and McClellan, Emory, Whipple, 
Williamson, Evans, Stevens aud McClellan, have been or soon 
will be formally reported to Congress, and together they coustl 
tute a large part of the reliable information now published on 
our immense western aud southwestern territory. In addition to 
these have been or soon will be published on foreign countries, 
the Wilkes Exploring Expedition narrative, maps, aud scientific 
descriptive volumes, Lynch’s Dead Sea, De Haven’s Arcti¢ eX 
ploration report, Herndon’s and Gibbon’s Amazon reports, the 
reports and results of Gillis’s Astronomical expedition to Chili, 
the reports of the Japan exyedition, Ringgold’s North Pacific 
expedition, Page’s La Plata exploration, an African exploration, 
e. Add to these Foster and Whituey’s Reports on mine 
lands, Owen’s Geological Report, Schooleraft’s Indian publica- 
tions, the Census Reports, the Patent Office Reports, the Coast 
Survey Reports, the Smithsonian Reports, and the muititnde of 
less pretending reports on scientific subjects (such as the Cay! 
extension, building stone experiments, Espy’s reports, boiler 6% 
plosion reports, on anesthetic agents, &c.) embraced in the file 
of Executive documents and reports of committees: the resulting 
aggregate of matter possessing scientific value thus published by 
Congress, far exceeds our natural anticipation both as to amouu 
and importance. 
Unfortunately, the scientific value of materials published in the 
docnmentary series, whether of Congress or of State legislatures, 
is very much impaired by the unsystematie and injudicions plan 
of distribution actually pursned. Men of science to whom | 
ticular reports would be of direct practical use, are often entirelY 
unable to procure copies of them, while many men of more 
litical importance, but who will never even look into them, have 
these same reports profusely Javished upon them. Valuable o 
uments which are reported to applicants as all exhausted, d 
wholesale duty as wrapping paper for Washington grocers od 
market men, at a standard price of four ceuts a pound, maps”, 
plates included. ‘This subject of documentary distribution 
serves the serious attention of Congress, and it would not 
